EPA tells Seward residents: Air is safe to breathe’

SEWARD — The cause of a June 2 explosion at the Nova-Kem chemical processing plant that forced the evacuation of the town is still undetermined.

Chris Green

SEWARD — The cause of a June 2 explosion at the Nova-Kem chemical processing plant that forced the evacuation of the town is still undetermined.

Until the root cause has been determined, plant operators cannot resume production of hexachlorodisilane, a highly corrosive chemical, said representatives from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

The state agency officials hosted a meeting with about 30 residents Wednesday night to share the results of their ongoing investigation.

While the cause is still being investigated, IEPA spokeswoman Carol Fuller said she wanted the residents to leave the meeting knowing their health and safety has not been compromised.

“Your property is safe. The air is safe to breathe. We don’t see long-term environmental effects, and we haven’t seen any data to say otherwise.”

The Nova-Kem chemical processing plant at 16161 Sixth St. manufactured a chemical used in the production of high-tech computerized memory chips for a variety of electronic devices, including computers and cell phones.

The June 2 explosion forced a 24-hour evacuation of the town as firefighters let the blaze burn instead of extinguishing it because the hexachlorodisilane produced at the plant reacts violently with water.

Novak said 2,000 pounds of chlorine was lost in the fire.

Residents were told their private well water is safe to drink but were not discouraged from having routine testing done yearly or every two years.

After the meeting, Gretchen Reuter, a mother of two children ages 12 and 7, said she hasn’t let her children use the family swimming pool since the chemical explosion and heard nothing Wednesday to convince her it is safe to do so now.

“I feel a little bit like they dodge some questions,” she said of the IEPA officials.

Jessica Cowman, a two-year Seward resident and a mother of four children as young as 9 months old, said, “I’m a mom. I’m not sure I’ll ever feel comfortable. It’s always going to be a concern.”

The fire and explosion destroyed the plant’s high-tech building where the hexachlorodisilane was produced and the shipping and receiving building. As of Aug. 15, the remains of those buildings have been disposed of, officials said. The remaining structure, the special products or low-tech building, is still in operation.

Nova-Kem is being allowed to finish an order for 3M. The chemicals in that production process pose no danger if they interact with water, officials said. Still, productions in that building are to cease by Oct. 31.

Nova-Kem CEO and President Reno Novak said he is still trying to determine if it is feasible to resume full operations.

In addition to providing a completed root-cause and an analysis report that is approved by the IEPA, Novak said he would have to go before the Winnebago County Board for zoning approval that is a higher classification than industrial. “The Attorney General’s Office and IEPA will definitely have some demands on it as well,” he said.

Fuller said extensive testing has been done within several blocks of the plant, but additional environmental testing will be conducted as far as two miles out.